82 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
basin of considerable depth, wbicb had been scooped out by the 
violence of the torrent. 
Into this basin after its emergence the rivers that still traversed 
the " Level" emptied themselves, and formed an extensive lake, 
whose waters were confined on the north east, and south by the 
greensand and chalk hills of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and 
Cambridgeshire, and on the west by the oolite hills of Hunting- 
donshire and Lincolnshire, being relieved of its superabundant 
supply, in all probability, by the valley of the Ouse and Wave- 
ney. I cannot propose to determine the length of time this lake 
occupied its scite, but I am disposed to believe, that when our 
island was separated from the continent by the disruption of the 
strata which united them, and the consequent formation of the 
trough of the German Ocean, the portion of its barrier between 
Wainfleet in Lincolnshire and Hunstanton in Norfolk, involved 
in the extensive ruin, was taken down, so that the lake was de- 
stroyed, and the natural drainage of the several counties was, 
from that period, effected through the new-formed channel, 
afterwards denominated the wash, and which continues open at 
the present day. 
Prom this period a new order of things commenced, the water 
of the river supplying the lake, having during its continuance 
deposited and distributed over its bottom the debris, with which 
it was abundantly laden, had provided a soil charged with the 
elements of vegetation, which upon exposure to the genial influ- 
ences of the atmosphere and light, quickly furnished a luxui'iant 
covering, in the first instance necessarily consisting of marsh 
plants only ; ere long the shrubs and trees to which a boggy 
soil is congenial sprung up, and in process of time the whole 
space lately occupied by the lake, became a morass studded with 
slightly elevated spots, above the reach of stagnant water; in 
which the monarch of the forest and other stately timbers fixed 
their sturdy roots ; now also did a tidal vi\er wend its way far 
within the " Level," in oscillating struggles with the freshes, 
carrying with its flood the shelly tenants of the deep ; a fact 
